Corn-sheller



C. ADAMS.

Corn Sheller.

Patented Aug; 17, 1858;

`FFICE,

CALVIN ADAMS, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

CORN-SHELLER.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 21,174, dated August 17, 1858i.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, CALVIN ADAMS, of Pittsburg, in the county ofAllegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Corn- Shellers; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and eXact description of the constructionand operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure l, represents a perspective View of said cornsheller; Fig. 2, represents a perspective view of the same, as seen fromthe reversed side of Fig. l; Fig. 3, represents a longitudinal verticalsection through the same; Fig. 4, represents a horizontal cross sectionthrough the same; Fig. 5, represents a perspective view of one of thefeeding wheels and shafts. i

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

A, represents a metallic casing, composed of two parts, which aresecured together by means of screw bolts and nuts B.

H, and H are two cogged wheels, each of which is formed on one side witha conical hub E, which fits snugly within the conical sleeve I, of thecasing A, and thus serves as the bearing for said wheels.

C, and C represent the shafts of the feeding wheels and are furnishednear their middle with feeding teeth S, which act against the ears ofcorn, and feed them through. The shaft C, is formed at one end with fourpivots a, which rest within four corresponding holes of the hub E, andcan have free play in said holes; the other end V, of said shaft issupported by the end of the hinged arm F, and can play therein freely.The arm F, Fig. l, is hung loosely at one end upon an arm or bracket G,on which it can turn as a fulcrum, while the other end which supportsthe shaft C, rests against the ends of guard K. The end V, of the shaftC, passes through the slot L, of the casing A, and can play thereinfreely when the arm F, is vibrated on its fulcrum G.-

K, represents a guard which is intended to prevent any longitudinalmotion of the shaft C, when said shaft is rotated and vibrated by theoperation of the machine.

N, represents a spring bar one end of which rests on the bracket O,while the other end thereof bears against the projection b, of the armF.

e, represents a screw nut which is placed between the outer end of theguard K, and the spring bar N, the thumb screw P, passes through thisscrew nut, and by tightening the same, its vend will bear upon thespring bar N, and will press said spring bar against the projection 5 ofthe arm F, thereby moving the arm F, and shaft C, in the same direction.The shaft C, is free to assume any oblique position, and still to berevolved by the operation of the machine hy its four pivots a, playingfreely within their bearings in the hub E.

Q, Q', represent the shelling wheels of the corn sheller. 'Ihey areformed with a number of arms el, each of which is of a concave or Vshape, which strip the grains from the ear as it is fed along. eZrepresents cogs which at the Sametime constitute the elongation of thearms al, with this dierence only, that they extend a shorter distancefrom the center of the shaft than the arms d. By these means, the wheelQ, is in gear with the wheel H, which latter is in gear with the wheelH, which in turn gives motion tothe shaft Q. The shafts C, and Ctogether with their corresponding parts are duplicates and the wheels Qand H are similar to those of Q and H, above described.

W, represents a stationery guide secured to the bolt B; the object ofthis guide is to direct the ears of corn to the center of the machine,and from the upper to the lower shellers, when they are fed in andcarried past the arms (l, of the shelling wheel Q, which is the upper ofthe two sets.

The operation of the machine is as follows -The ears of corn pass downthrough the hopper R, of the casing A, and drop with their ends betweenthe feeding teeth S, of the shaft C, and the arms al, of the shellingwheel Q. By turning the crank T, which is fastened to the shaft U, theearsare fed in between and past the feeding wheel and the wheel Q; nowif the shaft C, were perfectly rigid it is obvious that the machinecould not adapt itself to the different sizes of the ears, but as theshaft C, is yielding and can be pressed against the corn with anydesirable pressure, it follows that it can be set so as to eifectuallyshell the larger or smaller ears, and still render the machine easy tobe worked. The corn after having passed between the upper feeding andshelling wheels is guided by the guide W, and passes between the lowerfeeding and shellceedingly cheap, while it is a very eiicient sheller.

l have described the connection between the shaft C, and hub E, ascomposed of four studs or pivots and four holes-there may be a greateror less amount-or the end of the shaft may be three or four-sided, andfit into a similarly shaped hole, but of somewhat larger dimensions thanitself, so that there may be the necessary toggle or spring yieldingmo-tion of the shaft, while it continues to rotate with said hub. Theshelling wheels Q, Q run much more rapidly than the feeding wheels C, Cand entirely strip the cob before it is fed through,-the difference invelocities may be as three to one.

Having thus fully described the nature of my invention what I claimtherein as new 1. The combination of the pairsvof adjustable andyielding wheels C, and C with the pairs of shelling wheels Q, and Q whenconstructed and operating substantially in the manner and for thepurpose described.

2. I also claim the manner of connecting the shafts C, and C with theirrespective cog wheels H H, by means of the pivots a, a and conical hub Eor their equivalents, so that while they Vmay revolve together, theshafts may play back and forth to adapt the feeding wheels to thevarious sizes of the ears of corn Vto be shelled, substantially asdescribed.

CALVIN ADAMS.

Witnesses:

A. S. NICHOLSON, J. MooN.

aoY and desire kto secure by Letters Patent is-

